


shatter

by Samsonet



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22012054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samsonet/pseuds/Samsonet
Summary: Bede can't wear the watch anymore.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 175





	shatter

The watch is the most precious thing he owns.

Hm. No, not precious. The watch is the most _expensive_ thing he owns. Chairman Rose gave it to him, a symbol of his endorsement, and Bede had worn it with pride. Even on his first league card, he’d held it front and center.

 _I am the trainer endorsed by the chairman,_ was the message he’d been trying to send. _I have this watch because I am an elite trainer. You do not have this watch because you aren’t._

All the same, though, it’s only a thing.

It was always too big on his wrist. He’d had to physically hold up its face to check the time. A bloody inconvenience, really, considering he had a phone with a clock like everyone else. But he kept wearing the watch anyway, kept using it.

 _You’ll grow into it,_ Rose had said, but that never happened, did it?

And now Rose is gone but Bede remains. Rose is gone and Bede is a gym leader. Rose is gone and Bede has a family now, a real one, a grandmother who loves him even when he’s being a brat and the gym trainers who are like aunts to him.

He still keeps the watch in a drawer by his bed. He’s not sure why. It’s not like Rose will walk through the stadium’s doors one day, asking what his endorsee did with all the gifts. He’s probably forgotten he’s even given it.

And yet.

And yet.

_And yet._

Bede opens the drawer and pulls out the watch. It ticks away, steady and reliable even when its owners weren’t.

He slides it on his wrist. It aches like cold iron.

_I am disappointed in you._

He'd only ever wanted to make Rose happy.

Bede throws it to the ground. It doesn’t break; it’s too well-made for that. He grabs the heaviest thing in sight — in this case, a hardcover novel — and slams it against the face.

(In the orphanage, he’d slammed a book into someone’s actual face.

 _Terrible child. No wonder you’re impossible to love._ )

He keeps hitting the book down, over and over. He needs to let the rage _out_ , and Hatterene isn’t here to stop him.

After what feels like forever, the anger drains from him. He slumps down, his breathing shaky and uneven.

He’s crying. He doesn’t know when that started.

Everything feels so far away.

There are shards on the floor, now. He has to clean that up. If Ms. Opal sees them, she’ll be worried. He doesn’t want to worry her.

Carefully, he picks up every piece. A couple of them catch on his fingers and make him bleed, but that’s okay. He’s survived worse.

He dumps the shards and the rest of the watch into the wastebasket.

It’s only a thing. He has to remember that.


End file.
